Parental Ethnotheories and Family Routines: A Comparison between Italian and Ecuadorian Mothers in Italian Context

This chapter presents research that compares Italian and Ecuadorian mothers’ parental ethnotheories with specific attention to family routines, care practices and children’s education. The participants were 30 mothers of children aged 4–8 years (15 Italian and 15 Ecuadorian) living in Italy. The participants responded to a semi-structured interview. With regard to daily routines, the results show many similarities in both groups. Parental style was one of the areas in which immigrant mothers perceived a substantial difference from Italians. With respect to relationships with their children, Italian participants focused on the relationships’ affective aspects and their expressive and emotional connotations. Ecuadorian mothers also underlined the ethical dimension of responsibility. There were both similarities and differences in the parental ethnotheories of the two groups and in their organization of daily routines and parental roles. A general similarity of perceptions between the two groups emerged in comparison with the previous generation.